Abandoning Peach Jar Leaves Parents and Small Businesses in the Lurch
Back in March 2018, Portland Public Schools discontinued using Peach Jar, an online digital flyer service designed to inform PPS parents about after school programs and services. The reason for this move was two-fold: PPS wanted to ensure school resources were focused on student achievement rather than posting and managing flyers and information. But maybe more important was the concern about the inherent equity issues with regards to the communities targeted for events and activities from non-governmental organizations. Flyers often weren’t being translated for non-English speakers and the bulk of flyers coming from non-governmental organizations went to schools with a higher socio-economic population.
The decision doesn’t affect district-sponsored events, or those provided by a governmental organization. Those activities and services will still be publicized through schools. But small businesses and providers of after school activities and child care like Mad Science, Culture Club, Medium Cool Film School, Muse Band, NW Children’s Theatre, Portland Early Learning Project, and others won’t be.
Naturally, these small business owners were troubled by this decision and scrambled to figure out how to stay alive with no way to communicate with parents.
But they weren’t the only ones concerned. Parents wondered how they would find after-school care without access to information about the programs. For Kathy Warner, an Atkinson Elementary School parent of a kindergartner and 2nd grader, doing away with Peach Jar has been more than just an inconvenience. While she’s learned about a few after-school programs by word of mouth, there far fewer options to choose from. She’s noticed a decrease in vendors providing classes at the school since it’s hard to fill classes when no one knows about their program. “For parents who work,” Warner says, “we can’t simply pick up our child after school and take them to an off site program. One of the reasons we chose this school was because they really touted their afterschool programs.”
Some individual schools and PTOs have agreed to communicate class offerings to their families and work with independent after school providers to find a work-around. Even though Atkinson is one of these schools*, the solution is problematic. “If you don’t have a strong PTA or a present one, you’re still out of luck,” Warner says. “And since schools with higher income families generally have the stronger PTAs, their students will have more opportunies, while lower income schools will lose out.”
Jessica Amezcua, owner of Portland Early Learning Project has been frantically looking for solutions since the decision to discontinue Peach Jar was made in March. “I’ve been extremely worried that we’ll lose a significant portion of our normal enrollment because families who would otherwise sign up because they saw our flier, now won’t even know that we’re an option.” Compounding the hit to these small businesses, many after school providers recently absorbed rate hikes for room rentals. Amezcua adds, “these changes are a terrible blow to small businesses that provide a valuable service to PPS families.”
In the meantime, a number of afterschool providers created a single website that lists every PPS school and the approved afterschool programs available to families. They hope https://pdxafterschool.com/ will help more parents know their options.
Jamie Michaud of Culture Club French program thinks PPS should see these independent providers as partners. “In school districts across the nation the arts, languages, and even sciences are the first to go with budget cuts. Our programs are there to fill in the gaps. We are part of the education of Portland’s kids!”
*Currently the Alameda, Atkinson, Odyssey, Glencoe, and Stephenson schools and PTOs have agreed to work with independent after-school care providers to communicate class offerings to their families.